The leadership of Ward 3, Uromi, Edo state where the National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Barr. Julius Abure hails from, on Monday, described the purported suspension of the National Chairman a misguided decision that was undertaken by impostors who are not known to the party.
A faction of the ward, had on Friday, announced the suspension of the national chairman, over alleged anti-party activities.
At a press conference, Martins Osigbemhe, who claims to be the Ward Chairman, said Abure was suspended by the executives, pending the determination of the numerous petitions and cases against him in courts.
But in a press conference on Monday at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, Thompson Valentine Ehiguese, the Ward 3 Chairman distanced himself and his executive from the purported suspension, saying that the persons that carried out the act are unknown to the party.
This is even as the ward passed a vote of confidence on Abure.
He said, “I am the ward chairman. We heard that there are some persons impersonating to be the ward chairmen and ward executives of ward 3 Esan North Senatorial zone. I am the chairman of ward 3 in my local government and with me here is my secretary. We are here to dismiss the information about the suspension that is not correct. In the ward 3, Uromi where the national chairman came from. I am his ward chairman.
“The truth of the matter is that those who claimed to have suspended the national chairman are not members of the party. Their names are not in our party register. They are not even from Esan and they are not from our ward. We are taking a major action against them. They are impersonators and they will be arrested”.
Joining his voice, Edo State Party Chairman, Kelly Ogbaloi, said that the purported suspension was plotted by the other political parties worried about the continued acceptance of LP and it’s candidates across the country.
“It’s none sense when few boys assemble themselves in Abuja and make the pronouncement they made. For once, they are not part of the party, they are not at the ward, they are not at the local government and they are not recognize at the state level. Those who did it don’t even understand the message they were asked to deliver.
“In the constitution of Labour Party, no state, no local government, no ward has the right or whatsoever to assemble anywhere to suspend a national chairman who is a product of a national convention. It may be possible in other political parties but not in Labour Party. So whatever they have done has no effect on the leadership of the party.
“So we are saying that Barr Julius Abure remains the national chairman of our party and we have since passed a vote of confidence on him and he shall take this party forward. No reasonable person will come and be talking about the suspension of a chairman who had delivered on the election that we just have concluded,” Ogbaloi said.